Blanket cynicism is as useless as blanket optimism at helping us to know what to do next. A lens that makes everything uniformly white is as useless as one that makes everything uniformly black. Sensation requires being able to distinguish between varying shades of gray, so that details can be seen in their nuance.

The idea that everybody in government is equally corrupt is useless when it comes to participation in a democracy, because democratic choices depend on using the little bit of power and influence one has to move things in directions that are good—or are at least better than alternative possibilities. The rage of some of my fellow citizens, along with their claim that the system is uniformly corrupt, leads one almost to conclude that they no longer consider the U.S. democratic project to be viable, and that they consider the chaos of revolution to be preferable to continuing to work towards solutions in our present system. I hope this tone can be moderated. I suspect many have not truly considered the implications of throwing out our current incarnation of the democratic ideal—the one we have learned about in civics lessons since kindergarten. Please take a moment to consider that the reason you have the freedom to vocally contest the merits of the present system, and the way it is being executed, is itself to the credit of the present system.

I cannot pretend that everything is equally bad, and will not give in to pressure to see things in that way. In the spirit of honoring nuance and the distinctions not only between good and bad, but also between relatively good and relatively bad, I want to say that I am proud to have Barack Obama as President. He has done a good job. He and his family have contended with public pressures which far exceed those which were faced by many other Presidents, who accomplished far less than he has during their terms. He has modeled a level of dignity, calmness, and grace, that will go down in history as exemplary. He has implemented programs, including the Affordable Care Act, which have improved conditions for the middle class and the general public—and which I suspect would have been lauded as landmark social advances, had they been implemented by a President who was not otherwise the target of social and political bias and discrimination. (I myself am a beneficiary of the Affordable Care Act, being able to get insurance for myself and my family after years of not being able to do so. The same is true for millions of other people.)

In that same spirit of honoring distinction, I would be proud to have Hillary Clinton as our next President. In terms of being able to maintain conditions necessary for the wellbeing of adults and children, in the U.S. and around the world, and those who face vulnerabilities as a result of economic hardship and minority status, she is better by far than the Republican alternative. Moreover, she is as deserving as anyone of being the one to break through the glass ceiling of U.S. Presidency for a woman. I believe she would assume and carry that mantle with dignity and grace.

By the way, I also would have been proud to have Bernie Sanders as our next President. I voted for him in the Oregon primary, because his candidacy appeared as a unique opportunity to address systemic inequalities and corruption. I did not vote for him because I saw Hillary Clinton as evil, though. I voted for him as though trying to choose the brighter of two lights—knowing all along that I would support either him or Hillary when it comes to the general election. I do not have to deride one to appreciate the other; nor will I.

I realize it is currently unpopular to express approval for one’s conduct in a political job, or to express optimism about possible futures. We gain nothing by concluding that all is hopeless, though, or that all is equally corrupt. Short of the demolition of our entire democratic system, we operate in the realm of relative judgments. In exercising our democratic privileges, voting included, we are deciding about which human beings will do the best job in making decisions on behalf of other human beings. We are not voting for a divine regime change, in which case—perhaps—our language of absolute good and evil might make sense. If we forfeit the ability to recognize distinctions, either through blanket cynicism or blanket optimism, we forfeit our powers of intelligence and discernment. We yield power not to what is best, but merely to what is most forceful.